Rolling mill



Jan. 13, 1959 J. ZUBLIN 2,868,047

ROLLING MILL Filed Feb. 13, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 13, 1959 J. ZUBLIN I 2,858,047

ROLLING-MILL Filed Feb. 13, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 2,868,047 noLLrNG MILL Julius Ziiblin, Glarisegg, near Steckborn, Switzerland Application February 13, 1956, Serial No. 565,258 Claims priority, application Switzerland February 14, 1955 1 Claim. (Cl. 80-38 The present invention relates to rolling mills and more particularly to mills adapted for the rolling of thin walled sheet metals and foils.

A primary object of the present invention is. the provision of a rolling mill which is capable of producing metal foils of a thickness in the order of 0001-0005", and of means permitting a sensitive and accurate adjustment of rolls by means of a centerless arrangement of one or a plurality of working rolls.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a rolling mill for metal foils having at least three supporting rolls adjustably journalled, at least one working roll being supported between said supporting rolls.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a rolling mill for metal foils in which two spaced rings are rotatably arranged in a machine standard, a plurality of supporting rolls being adjustably journalled in said rings and supporting at least one working roll. i

Further objects and advantages will become evident from the-following specification in which oneembodiment of a rolling mill according to the invention is described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a vertical section through the rolling mill taken along line II of Fig. 2, i

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the mill,

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view, in section, of a standard having an adjusting device for a supporting roll.

As is evident from the drawing, the rolling mill has two standards 2 mounted on a basic foundation 1, which standards at the top portion thereof are connected to each other by a hood-shaped part 3. Rotatably supported in a circular recess'4 provided in each of the two standards 2 is a ring 5 which is laterally guided by plates 6 secured to the standard and overlapping said ring. Each of the two rings 5 is provided with threeradially inwards extending eyes 7, in which recesses 8 are formed approximately of U-shape (Fig. 3). The recesses 8 form guide means, each for a two-part bearing 9', these bearings being radially movable within the recesses 8 and adapted to serve for rotatably supporting the stub axles 10 of the supporting rolls 11.

At the outer portion of each bearing 9, a pressure bolt 9ais provided, extending through a radial bore provided in the ring 5, which bore opens into a recess 5a arranged on the periphery of the ring. The recesses 5a associated with the two upper bearing eyes are located opposite to radial bores 2a in the standards 2, which bores contain each a piston 12 axially displaceable therein, said piston being secured against rotation by means of a key 13, which engages in a rectilinear guide groove 2b of the bore 2a. The pistons 12 and the pressure bolts 9a, each are provided with an end surface 12a and 9b, respectively, including an angle with respect to the tangent of the ring 5, said end surfaces 12a and 9b abutting against each other. Connected to each piston 12 in an adjusting spindle 14 freely rotatable about .the longitudinal spindle axis in regard to the piston.

The spindles 14 extend coaxially to the pistons 12 and are each screwed into a nut 15 arranged within an enlarged outer portion of the bores 2a, said nuts being secured against rotation and displacement in the bore. The enlarged portions of the bores 2a are situated in eyes 20, which project from the circular peripheral portion of the standard 2 in radial direction. A square section 14a is provided at the external end of each spindle 14, so that these spindles may be rotated or adjusted by means of a corresponding square spanner. The three supporting rolls 11, which with their stub axles 10 are rotatably journalled in bearings 9, support between themselves an actual operating roll 16, in a centerless manner. The roll 16 has a smaller diameter than the supporting rolls 11.

vAt each end the operating roll 16 is provided with stub axles 17 (in Fig. 2 only one stub axle is shown), of which each carries a V-belt pulley 18. A support ring 19 is detachably mounted on each of the two standards 2 at the outside thereof. Flanged to each of the support rings 19 is an electric drive motor 20, of which the drive shaft 21 is connected to the corresponding stub axle 17 of the operating roll 16 by means of an elastic coupling 22. The end portions of the stub axles 10 projecting beyond the outer surfaces of the standards carry V-belt pulleys 23, each V-belt pulley 18 being connected by three V-belts 24 with V-belt pulleys 23 of the corresponding side of the standard, and each of these belts cmbracing all pulleys of the respective side. In

the embodiment shown in Fig. l, the three V-belts emin staggered relationship to each other, for instance by causing the second one ofsaid belts to pass from the pulley of the operating roll to the pulley of the lowermost supporting roll, and the third belt to pass from the pulley of the operating roll directly to the puley of the supporting roll situated to the upper right in Fig. 1, so that each pulley of the supporting rolls would thus be surrounded by two belts, having an embracing angle that is greater than and by one belt having an embracing angle which is smaller than 180.

A plate 25 carrying a bolt 26 is fastened to the inner sides of the rings 5. Connected to each of these bolts is a link-rod 27, the other end of which with its eye 27a surrounding an eccentric (not shown) which is provided on a shaft 28. The shaft 28 is journalled for rotation within a lug 2d provided on the inner side of the standard 2 and has an adjusting lever 29 secured to the top end of said shaft. By turning this lever, the link rod 27 may be displaced towards one direction or the other, whereby the ring 5 is rotated within the standard 2 by means of the bolt 26 and the plate 25. It will be apparent from Fig. 3 that the bolt 9a passes with its surface 911 over the face 12a of the piston 12, when the ring 5 is rotated in counterclockwise direction, so that through the bearing bushing 9 and the supporting roll 11a force acting in radial direction is exerted on the operating roll, or this force will be increased. At the same time, the pressure exerted by the left-hand upper supporting roll will also be intensified. The rolling material 30, which is wound off from a drum 31 and is passed between the operating roll 16 and the lower supporting roll 11, thus is subjected to a greater rolling pressure. After passage through the said rolls, the rolling material is taken up by a drum 32.

The described embodiment also permits subjecting the rolling. material to two rolling cuts during one passage through the rolling mill, by providing an additional takeup drum 33 on the standards, whereby the rolling material, after having moved between the operating roll and the lowermost supporting roll, is passed between the supporting roll, situated at the right-hand upper end in Fig. 1, and the operating roll'. The rolling material is illustrated in this case by dash lines.

' In place of the eccentric mechanism, a spindle mechanism could be provided for the adjustment of the rings 5. While in the described form of embodiment the two rings 5 are not directly connected to each other, according to another form ofembodiment, strutting members can be provided between therings, which members rigidly couple the rings with each other. Thereby only one adjusting mechanism is required for the rotation of the rings.

Preferably, the rolls are formed symmetrically with respect to a vertical center plane, so that the heat distribution and heat dissipation, respectively, is uniform on both sides of same. The operating roll and/or the supporting rolls may be convexly ground.

The described embodiment of the rolling mill has the advantage that the rings 5 together with the rolls supported therein can be rotated through the spacing of the bearing'eyes- 7, which amounts to 120, i. e. all three supporting rolls may be brought in the position of the lowermost supporting roll shown in Fig. 1, so that the wear maybe distributed over all supporting rolls by periodically rotating the rings.

The removal and replacement of the rolls is very simple in the described form of embodiment, since for instance the whole settogether with the rings 5 may beremoved and replaced.

The adjustment of the supporting rods and the centering of the operating roll, respectively, is done by means of the spindles 14 and pistons 12, through which the bearing bushings 9 can be adjusted in the recesses 8 of the bearing eyes 7, which is mainly of importance when the set of rolls is exchanged or after the operating r'oll has been reground.

According to another form of embodiment, four sup- 4- porting rolls could also be journalled in the two rings, in which case two operating rolls would be journalled between said supporting rolls and the rolling material would pass between the operating rolls.

Iclaim:

A rolling mill for thin metal sheets and foils comprising a pair of standards, a ring supported in each standard with the axes of the rings in alignment and the rings rotatable about the aligned axes, each of the said standards and associated rings having at least three radial guide-ways angularly spaced from one another about the circumference of the standard and associated ring, a bearing and pressure bolt member supported in each one of said guide-ways of said rings and radially slidable therein, a piston member supported in each of said guideways of said standards and radially slidable therein, each of said pressure bolt members having an oblique outer face and each of said piston members having an oblique inner face, pressure bolt members operativel'y associated with the piston members with each of said piston members abutting the cooperating pressure bolt member with the said obl'iqueflfa'ces thereof in mutual contact, three rolls supported between the said rings, bearings in the rings, each roll having the opposite ends thereof journalled in a cooperating one of the hearings in the said rings, atleast one centerless working roll supported between said at least three rolls, screw means for individu'ally adjusting the radial position of each of said piston members in' its respective guide-way, and means for adjusting in unison the angular position of each of said rings with respect" to the standard in which it is supported, to causesaid abutting oblique surface to adjust said rolls.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 164,679 Hahn June 22, 1875 1,039,992. M-uncaster Oct. 1, 1912 1,713,678 Seibert May 21, 1929 2 ,385,498 Clifford Sept. 25, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS 11,787 Great Britain June 18, 1895 358,291 Great Britain Oct. 8, 1931 

